Ferme La Bouche

gratefulforhelp_2

When all this "English Bac" codswallop (sorry Dave) started up, I got made unofficial Head of Latin at my school 'cos I could say

"Canis latrat in via"....or "the dog barks in the street".

bagginslover

claire16c wrote: »

The problem with languages at school is that the stuff you learn is not really appropriate. I mean for my German A Level, I wrote a paper on Turkish women who were immigrants in Germany, and how they integrated into German society. I did my oral speech about the german army, globalisation and the fall of the Berlin wall. I mean its hardly a conversation youd have with someone if you were on holiday there!

My paper was on Persecution of free Masons in the French Courts, and my oral was about the spread of AIDS in French speaking African countries! Like you said, not your everyday topics of conversation!

January20

*max* wrote: »

Did you do a PGCE January20? I was thinking of doing that, but I think I may have left it too late....Did you have any training when you started working in Adult Ed? I'm interested in teaching (adults rather than kids, so don't need a PGCE), but the only courses I can find in the UK are not specific to languages, only general teaching techniques etc...and I wouldn't know where to begin when teaching French! The only thing I can think of is doing a Maitrise FLE through distance learning.

Sorry for highjacking your thread Aliasojo!

When I started teaching in Adult Ed, tutors didn't need a PGCE (I did a City and Guilds qualification initially and it was general teaching) but now it is a requirement. You're never too old to do it and I know that a lot of present adult ed tutors of all ages are doing their PGCE as a 2 year part-time course, as well as working, as it's the only way they can keep their job. But perhaps this only applies to those teachers who have a part-time permanent post. I'm a bit out of the loop now

ETA: if you want to teach, explore the various ways you can get into it, and also the various ways you can achieve QTS through the Open University, your local uni, do a search online etc, to find what would suit you best.

PeteMc

I hadn't spoken French to any meaningful degree since leaving there 3 years ago. Last month I was in Paris, got in a taxi at the GdN and within minutes I was back in French mode discussing the typical taxi driver subjects of immigration, the euro and the EU economy. The following day was a "gueule de bois" day and I was lucky to be able to speak English nevermind French.

Savvy_Sue

j.e.j. wrote: »

When I did a 'brush up your french' course a couple of years ago I was surprised at how much i remembered from school, which was decades ago! Numbers were the trickiest for me though

Especially large numbers, like dates, and they will rattle them out so fast, won't they? I've just done a beginners Spanish course, and we did numbers early on, and quite intensively, so I feel reasonably confident with them atm. Going to do another term of it before we go away, to see if I can get beyond "dos cafes con leche por favor".

I can get by in French (and used it in the Canary Islands before I'd done the Spanish!) and once had a little German but not a lot. My Latin used to be passable and I also did Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac at University, but only the dead versions.

alyth wrote: »

my passion is chinese - I spent a month studying out there earlier in the year - it is the easiest language in the world to learn, despite what people think - no tenses, no groupings, as long as you get the tone right (which is obviously a nightmare!) but Mandarin truly is not that difficult to get your head round.

:rotfl: we'll take your word for it! Mind you, Biblical Hebrew's quite nice for verb tenses too: there's either the Perfect, or the Imperfect, and they don't really relate to past, present and future. If God says "I have done this" in the Perfect tense, it doesn't matter if he's done it in the past or he's going to do it in the future, it's as good as done because God says it!

alyth wrote: »

German was my killer - C in it at school - ein beir bitte is as far as I could manage!

I'm not sure what you're getting there, but isn't it "ein bier bitte" that you're after? :beer:

aliasojo

I'm so glad I started this thread. *said with slight sarcastic but friendly tone*.

I expected to get loads of replies saying 'oh I can't remember much either' or ' I was always rubbish at languages' etc etc.

Instead I got you lot.

How to feel thick in one easy lesson. *goes off muttering about how it's not nice to show off*.:rotfl:

(I AM joking! )

Becles

I did GCSE French and haven't really spoke it much since, but I noticed I can remember loads when I've been helping my children with their homework.

My favourite school French phrase was something like:
nous avons une boite dans notre camion
which means "we have a box in our lorry".

I can understand how learning how to check into a hotel or buy things in shops would be useful, but I'm still perplexed as to why I would ever need to say that to a French person!

January20

aliasojo wrote: »

I'm so glad I started this thread. *said with slight sarcastic but friendly tone*.

I expected to get loads of replies saying 'oh I can't remember much either' or ' I was always rubbish at languages' etc etc.

Instead I got you lot.

How to feel thick in one easy lesson. *goes off muttering about how it's not nice to show off*.:rotfl:

(I AM joking! )

If it's any consolation, I did 2 years of Spanish and I only remember how to say "Good morning, thank you and 2 beers please" And I'm sure I didn't learn to order beers at school either

miss_edith

I feel quite ashamed that I have a degree in Latin, German and Spanish plus a French A-level and now only my Latin is useable. I try to speak as much German as poss on holidays but struggle with it which is a shame as I used to be close to fluent. I'd like to get back to that level but don't know how. I absolutely hated French and Spanish (no offense to the French people on here) and only chose to do them because they were an easy option.

Savvy_Sue

it is a 'use it or lose it' situation - if you were dumped in Germany you'd become close to fluent again fairly quickly, but if you don't use it, it does slide out of your top levels of memory.

How about watching DVDs with German subtitles? Or, evidently, German pop music?

I know the music thing wouldn't help me much, the absolute WORST things we had to do in my Spanish class last term was listening to Spanish music and trying to match what we heard to the lyrics in front of us. There was a long and repetitive song, we had to try to put the lines into the right order. I just don't hear well enough to do that kind of thing!